ABSTRACT
An estimate of crop losses due to weed competition has been done on the basis of experimental data available in the country. The relative yields of 27 crop species are calculated and the ranking of competitive power of the crop species has been established. On average 37.33% of crop produce is damaged if weeds are not controlled in Bangladesh. Crops valued at approximately Taka 59665.70 million might be lost annually due to unrestricted growth of weeds in the country. The pest may cause a loss of 9.66 million tons of food valued at Taka 56711.12 million [$1383 million] every year if they are not controlled in the crop fields. Production losses may also occur due to weeds as 33.16% in food crops, 41.26% in cereals, 3 1.88% pulses, 40.82% in oilseeds, 34.23% in fibre crops and 40.28% in rice crops in the country. However, an average of 13.1% of crop produce is actually lost in the farmers field even after adopting traditional weed controls in Bangladesh. On this basis, crops valued at Taka 20,938.13 million is lost every year due to weeds. More than 2.5 million tons of food grain [cereals, pulses and oilseeds] valued at Taka 17232.80 million is lost per annum. Of the crop species investigated, tea and khesari are the most competitive crops followed by sugar-cane and lentil. Onion is the least competitive crop against weeds